PK damage

Posted by Dudley on 03/10

I recently read in the LT that for purposes of a more
interesting PK, the damage during PK has been reduced.
Along with the reduction in the number of rounds a
player can be stunned, and without the changes in the
damage a combat skill or spell can do, this seemed to
have caused several unbalances, mostly favoring dex
chars.

Since stuns don't last as long, stun-inducing skills are
of low priority other than guaranteed one-rounders
from headbutt and the stun spell. Even those are
rather ineffective due to other stuff the char could
do, namely kick.

A demolish in PK does around 20 pts of damage in my
experience, but a kick often does 35+, up to over 50.
Other than some 3rd circle spells, kick is the most
devastating combat skill, and the only defense against
it seems to be high dex, and even then kicks find
their target quite often.

Also, due to the decrease in PK damage, the effective
ness of damroll is reduced, damroll depending on the
total damage done. Like before, hitroll is not
affected by this.

Since str chars rely on a bigger dice and roll less
often (5/4 instead of 12/11 or 9/8) the chance for a
str fighter to do it's intended amount of damage
diminishes with the damage being reduced.

This is also compounded with the fact that dex has a
chance to dodge and parry--the longer the battle lasts,
the more chance for dex fighters to dodge and parry,
and therefore the reduction of damage is in favor for
dex warriors, especially against enemies that swing
only 4 to 5 times.

Of course, if we simply increase the pk damage, dex
fighters wouldn't last long enough to do squat, as
one successful headbutt is usually enough for str
fighters to do 100 pts of damage.

I guess what I am suggesting is for the combat skill
damages to be lessened in the same way round damages
are, so that skills like bash (intended to do 33%
more damage, which again is lessened if the total
damage is reduced) can again serve more a purpose
than simply preventing the opponent from fleeing
or kicking.

Spell damage should be thought about as well, since
immolate/flee, as costly as it is in terms of mana
will at least surely knock off the hps desired.
Healing effects should also be reconsidered in terms
of the damage reduction in pk--one glowing root
can heal enough for a round of demolish, and cure
criticals can easily bring anyone back to a couple
or more rounds.

I could be totally wrong about this, as I don't duel
often, but when I can go through the vampire in
4-5 headbutts and 450hp doppels go in 3 headbutts or
so, it makes it rather hard to adjust to pk from mob
killing, and makes it even harder for newbie pkillers to adjust to pk.
Enough rambling for today, i guess.

Dudley

From: Nym
Monday, March 09, 04:53PM

I'm not sure how much is feasible, but I too would like to see
fighting skills (and spells) damage lowered the same way regular
weapon damage is. As far as I know, kick is the only fighting
skill that doesn't affect the following battle rounds - instead it
inflicts all its damage at once. Thus it's completely unaffected by
the lowered damage during the rounds. On average, a kick
Hmm....nevermind -stops himself before he starts to sound like
he's whining-

Anyway, if at all possible, it would be great if damage from
skills and spells were reduced to match weapon damage.

Nym

From: Dune
Monday, March 09, 05:14PM

Im a high-mind mage that NEVER uses stun because kick is so
hardcore... and free.. and you dont fall.. and you hit often..
even against dex fighters.. I had mandrake with 60 dex.. kicking
me 50 percent when I had 90.. thats kinda weird.. so I agree with
Nym and Dudley...

I would like to add that backstab is just as crazy... Ive been
backstabbed for 85 hps... thats psycho..... Also it seems that
backstab paras very often... I say this because I was involved in
a fight where I was paraed by backstab.. took the 85 hps of damage
.. then my attacker fleed while I Was stunned and backstabed again..
and again.... and the damage is sooo much and the success rate for
para was sooo high.. that he kept on getting more paras.. and took me
down from 430 to zero .. the whole time stunned... so from now on, I
have nasty and tricky (and cheap) strategys for them that render them
unable to get a hit on me in the first place.. and thats no fun.

Dune

From: Mandrake
Tuesday, March 10, 04:28AM

don't forget guns! considering a small gun does about
the same damage as kick over 2 rounds, doesn't miss
as often, can set you on your butt and stun when
it's eventually fixed. -wince-

hmm, i dunno.. i just hope if anything's changed
it'll be either very soon or after the tourny.